The Commonwealth Games 2026 opened in Glasgow last night with a sprawling green display designed by Amalie White and planted by Jamie Butterworth. The 15-metre diameter moveable garden served as the centrepiece of the ceremony at the OVO Hydro, spanning over 200 square metres of flora.
Amalie White’s stage design began with a single knotted thread representing the start of a Celtic knot. As lines of woven light joined together, they created an infinite loop of paths converging on a central point. The designer said the stage acted as a crossroads where athletes from across the city, the country, and the Commonwealth met. She added that the space served as a place where sport, nature, culture and art interconnected.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla emerged from the blue TARDIS within the garden during the ceremony. The garden’s design drew inspiration from Scotland’s pioneering textile industry and Glasgow’s shipbuilding heritage. It also reflected His Majesty’s lifelong passion for the natural setting, championing the philosophy of “letting nature in” and blurring the lines between cultivation and wilderness.
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Jamie Butterworth, the plantsman behind the planting, used giant trays on moveable castors to position the plants. The modular trays weighed one tonne each but were moved around by hand thanks to the wheels. The entire installation rolled out in two minutes during a rapid scene change that looked like a giant garden jigsaw puzzle.
Plants were grown peat-free on Jamie’s Form Plants nursery. They were chosen for a wild palette and texture. Amalie White said the soft, muted colours and textures acted like a traditional tartan or tweed. From a distance, everything felt connected, while up close the individual details were detailed.
Jamie Butterworth guided the selection from a horticultural perspective to ensure the plants grew well together. He described the result as horticulturally ambitious yet completely natural. Ornamental grasses provided a baseline texture of the wild setting, blending into a sweeping palette of blues and purples. The planting included Molinia, Sesleria, Calamgrostis, Agastache, Catanache, Perovskia, Sanguisorba, Selenium, Nepeta, resilient thistles and multiple perennials that evoke coastal paths, alpine highlands, and loch-sides. The selection provided volume, colour, and a sense of wildness to match the wider setting.
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Placed centre stage in the round and criss-crossed with a saltire shaped walkway, the garden provided a grounding sense of place. The physical garden was enhanced by an immersive wrap-around screen that extended the setting into a cinematic vista. This created the illusion that the stage was nestled in the middle of a boundless setting. The centre of the garden was carved out to serve as a crossroads for performance, while a circular ramp allowed the action to completely surround the garden.
This is the second time Jamie and Amalie have collaborated, having worked together on the Gucci Cruise 25 at Tate Modern. The garden will go on to have a permanent home, with details to be announced at the end of the Games.
